Learn how sound artist Tobias Poppe captured the visceral power of the Porsche 911 Carrera.
Produced since 1964, the venerable Porsche 911 has become one of the most iconic sports cars in history – a universal symbol of speed, power, and elegance. Recorded by sound artist Tobias Poppe (Jojo Rabbit, Barbie), the Porsche 911 Carrera sound effects library delivers all of the excitement, power, and grace you would expect from a renowned high-performance sports car.
Read our interview below to learn how Tobias captured the sound of this iconic sports car.
Pro Sound Effects: What was your inspiration for creating this library?
Tobias Poppe: The motivation was to immortalize/record my own car, which by common sound guys knowledge is something you should never do. Never record your own car. You will overdo it.
Recording process in action
Can you describe your experience recording this library?
The experience was awesome until we saw white smoke rising from the engine.
Any fun recording session stories to share?
Chris Diebold and I ventured out to the desert to finally record my car. We removed the mufflers the week before so it sounded raw and powerful. We had no time constraints and could do whatever we wanted, a recordist's dream. After doing some slow and medium sets we moved on to faster ones and then tried to do hero starts with spinning tires - driving it like we stole it. It was fun, but on the second round I burned the clutch and flywheel.
Whatever technique I perfected in the 90's having fun with my '86 Opel Kadett wasn’t really suitable for the Porsche and we were now stranded in the middle of nowhere. Eventually the car got fixed and I put a Cargraphic exhaust on and continued with the recording session.
Setting up different microphone perspectives
Why is this library useful for sound artists?
The library is quite unique in the sense that it has a Porsche 911 recorded with both straight pipes and with a Cargraphic exhaust. After the first recording session we went out again with my wife, Veronica Li, and recorded lots of takes with long energy.
"The motivation was to immortalize/record my own car, which by common sound guys knowledge is something you should never do."
What makes this different from other sound libraries?
One big difference is that the library has also lots of powerful downshifts. You would have to look for them in the long onboard sets and compress them, beef them up, but they are there, clean and long.
"The library is quite unique in the sense that it has a Porsche 911 recorded with both straight pipes and with a Cargraphic exhaust."
